The Atlanta Braves entered the 2018 baseball season with such low expectations that Las Vegas oddsmakers weren't even thinking they might become a playoff contender.

As the calendar turned to June, however, the National League East standings started with Atlanta, hotly pursued by the Washington Nationals, who won the division last year, and the Philadelphia Phillies, like the Braves a perennial doormat trying to poke their way toward the ceiling. Even the New York Mets, after jumping to a hot start and cooling considerably, were less than five games behind.

Preseason pundits had predicted the NL East would be the weakest of the game's six divisions. But the Braves had other plans.

The only team to win 14 consecutive division titles (1991-2005), Atlanta has spent the past four years shedding salary, signing talented amateurs and revamping a front office ravished by an illegal signing scandal that resulted in a lifetime ban of general manager John Coppolella.

Major League Baseball also stripped the club of a dozen prospects and restricted its role in this year's amateur draft. But a kid named Ronald Acuna Jr. escaped the purge.

Acuna, 20, was preceded to spring training by his reputation. He was Baseball America's Minor League Player of the Year and the Arizona Fall League's Most Valuable Player. Then he hit .432 during spring training, handling major league pitchers handily without any previous exposure.

The fleet Venezuelan outfielder would have opened the season in Atlanta if the team didn't decide to save a year on his six-year service obligation by starting him in Triple-A. But he was quickly promoted.

At the start of May, the Braves actually had the three youngest men in the majors: Acuna and pitcher Mike Soroka, both 20, and second baseman Ozzie Albies, a 21-year-old playing his first full season in the big leagues.

After a hot start, Acuna's bat cooled a bit. But his arms and legs compensated -- until he twisted a knee while beating out an infield grounder in Boston on May 27. Initially concerned that the phenom had suffered a torn ACL, the Braves were relieved that an MRI indicated only a mild strain. The remedy was rest rather than surgery, so Atlanta found a spot for Acuna on the 10-day disabled list.

Adding Acuna helped Atlanta lead the National League in hits, runs, and batting average through most of the first two months. The offensive juggernaut was the main reason the team surged 10 games over the .500 mark, keeping a tenuous grip on first place as June began.

It hardly mattered to Acuna, whose father played in the minors, that he not only lost his roster spot but also lost his ranking as the youngest man in the majors; when the Washington Nationals promoted Juan Soto, 19, in May, he took over the title. But the Braves hardly batted an eye; Acuna not only showed speed, power and strong defense but teamed with Albies, a close friend, to give Atlanta two talented top-of-the-line table-setters ahead of Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis.

Albies began the season batting second behind Ender Inciarte, a centerfielder with consecutive Gold Gloves, but was bumped to leadoff when the veteran limped to a slow start. Manager Brian Snitker, who has spent more than 40 years in the Atlanta organization, even tried the unorthodox tactic of batting his pitcher eighth, moving Inciarte to the ninth hole and thus overwhelming opposing teams with three straight speed merchants.

For Braves fans, watching the youth mature was like watching a rerun of the worst-to-first season that started the 14-year title streak. Atlanta had the worst record in the majors in 1990 but won the National League West, where it was assigned, on the last day of the 1991 season. That team also overflowed with youth, from sluggers David Justice and Ron Gant to pitchers Tom Glavine and John Smoltz.

This year, the kids to watch are Albies, Acuna and Dansby Swanson, a young shortstop in his first full season after a minor league exile helped him recapture his confidence last summer.

Veterans are vital, too, as the 1991 team proved with Sid Bream, Otis Nixon and Terry Pendleton, whose unexpected batting title earned him Most Valuable Player hardware.

The 2018 Braves bank on the experience of Freeman, the face of the franchise, plus veteran catchers Kurt Suzuki and Tyler Flowers, who combined for 30 home runs a year ago. Inciarte entered June as the National League leader in stolen bases.

Even the pitching, wildly unpredictable a year ago, has stabilized. Julio Teheran, a Colombian right-hander, started his fifth straight opener and showed early on that he's no longer spooked by Sun Trust Park, the suburban stadium where the Braves moved last year after 19 seasons in Turner Field.

The bullpen, once a federal disaster area, has also rebounded nicely. Kids named Dan Winkler and A.J. Minter, getting extended chances for the first time, are the top setup men for veteran Arodys Vizcaino, a reliable flame-thrower. Australian righthander Peter Moylan, at 39 the old man of the team, adds expertise both in the field and in the clubhouse.

Whether the Braves will be waving tomahawks in October is an open question. But there's no doubt that Alex Anthopoulos, the 40-year-old general manager who joined the team last fall, is pushing the right buttons.

He sat tight last fall, refusing to dabble in the free-agent market, but made a valiant attempt this spring to fill the team's third-base hole by inking Jose Bautista at the bargain-basement price of $1 million. Remembering that Bautista's 54-homer season for the 2010 Blue Jays coincided with the GM's first season in Toronto, Anthopoulos thought he could move the outfielder to third base and watch him provide much-needed right-handed power to a lineup that leans left-handed.

It didn't happen; Bautista was indequate at bat and in the field, eventually drifting to the New York Mets as an extra outfielder. His Atlanta tenure was shorter than General Sherman's: just 12 days.

As soon as next week's draft ends, Anthopoulos will concentrate on adding to the Atlanta club via trade. Facing a July 31 deadline, he might even go after Toronto's Josh Donaldson or Kansas City's Mike Moustakas, slugging third basemen available for the right package of prospects. With a rich farm system rated among the best in the majors, the Braves will certainly be bidders.

An extra pitcher or two wouldn't hurt either.

The Braves have already shown that they're for real. They scored six runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat Miami, 10-9. They won a 1-0 game when Acuna hit a solo home run. They got walk-off home runs on consecutive days from Charlie Culberson and Johan Camargo, utilitymen not known for their power.

In a sport that seems to produce Cinderella teams every season, the young-and-hungry Braves of 2018 just might be Destiny's Darlings. Again.